At a Glance: Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy – Press, Stats & Demographics

 
Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy is an interview/talk show hosted by Lightspeed Magazine editor John Joseph Adams and author David Barr Kirtley. Each episode features an interview with a leading figure in the world of science and science fiction, followed by a discussion of science fiction books, movies, video games, and more.

Guests include novelists such as George R. R. Martin (A Game of Thrones), Philip Pullman (The Golden Compass), Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club), Charlaine Harris (the Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood series), Lemony Snicket (A Series of Unfortunate Events), Junot Diaz (The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao), William Gibson (Neuromancer), Neal Stephenson (Anathem), Cory Doctorow (Little Brother), and Ursula K. Le Guin (The Left Hand of Darkness); filmmakers such as Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead) and Alexandre Philippe (The People vs. George Lucas); comic book writers such as Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead) and Mike Mignola (Hellboy); video game designers such as Ron Gilbert (The Secret of Monkey Island) and Chet Faliszek (Left 4 Dead); and scientists/nonfiction writers such as P. W. Singer (Wired for War), Paul Krugman (New York Times columnist), Mary Roach (Stiff), Brian Greene (Fabric of the Cosmos), Neil deGrasse Tyson (Nova scienceNOW), and Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion).

The show launched in January 2010. Season One (2010) was produced for Tor.com, the website of a major science fiction book publisher. Season Two (2011) was produced for io9.com, a science fiction and futurism website owned by Gawker Media. Season Three (2012) is currently being produced for Wired.com, the website of the popular tech magazine Wired.

The A.V. Club calls Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy “an informative and impressively in-depth podcast well worth checking out,” and notes that “it’s actually quite stunning the way hosts John Joseph Adams and David Barr Kirtley never seem to drop the ball on a big-name interview.”

In September 2012, Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy was featured on the main podcasts page at iTunes as one of a handful of recommended geek podcasts. In April 2013, the show was ranked #1 on the iTunes Literature list. It has also ranked as high as #5 on the Arts list and #35 on the list of all podcasts. The show currently receives about 25,000 downloads per month, with new shows averaging 8,000 downloads and some getting 20,000 or more.